Obituary of Monsita Colon

My mom Monsita Colon was born in the center of the island of Puerto Rico in the Mountainous area of Aibonito. She was raised with 9 brothers and sisters on a farm in Cayey. Finishing high school she moved to New York in the 1950s where she met my dad, Victor Martinez . They both went to the same high School but met in New York and married in 1953. They moved to Puerto Rico when I was five years old . My brother Renie was born in 1960. Dad was offered a job with USAID in Taiz,Yemen and they both went to live there for four years where Mom perfected her English and was a volunteer helping in activities for American family events.

Mom was always very loving and loved to help people . I always say my parents were very noble and educated. She was always taking care of us and checking all the time on her parents, sisters and brothers, niece, nephews, a loving family person.. In the 1980s she decided to study social work and went to college and finished with an Associate Degree to continue helping more her friends and family.

And for my daughter and also other Grandchildren she was special. Here are some words from my daughter María Teresa:

My grandma loved coffee and loved Puerto Rico and always dreamed of going back. She loved the song “En mi Viejo San Juan” and taught me the song in one of the many summers I spent with her in Fl. The song is about emigrating but dreaming of going back someday to your country. She loved the song not only because she missed Puerto Rico but because she missed her family. She always talked about her mom and how important she was to her and taught me to cherish my mom, cos there is no one like mom. Even in her Dementia, knowing I lived in PR she would ask me how her mom was doing. Most of my relationship with my grandma was from a distance; out of my 34 years, only 3 of those years, we lived in the same country but this wasn’t an obstacle, she always made sure to maintain the relationship. She would send cards for special occasion and gifts too, but she would never miss the card with a beautiful message and I would see her almost every summer. She would never ask anything in return but one thing, pictures. She always asked for pictures and kept a lot of pictures from the whole family. We would speak often on the phone and recognized my voice when I called her, without me telling her who I was, even with her Dementia, I called her once and surprisingly she recognized my voice like old times. Her love and care never went away and will always live with me. Even the caregivers would say that she was one of the sweetest ladies. She left a beautiful legacy with her example of what a daughter, mother, grandmother and wife should be. Not always perfect but forgiving and unconditional because family is family.